A Little Off
by saragillie
Summary: A story that shows one way Brennan could deal with her past.
1. Chapter 1

In the past couple of days, Booth noticed that Brennan was behaving a bit differently than usual. It wasn't anything major, and he doubted that Angela had noticed. She seemed a little sadder than usual. She was staying a little longer at the office and just a bit of her sparkle was gone.

As Booth reflected on this, he realized that it wasn't the first time this had happened. 'She was like this a couple of months ago,' he recalled.

* * *

A knock at her apartment door pulled Brennan's attention from the chapter she was trying to write. She peered through the eyehole. 'Booth. What's he doing here at…' she looked at her watch, '11:30 at night?' she wondered, as she opened the door.

Booth held up a bag of takeout from their favorite Thai restaurant. A big grin spread across Booth's face. "I thought you could use some good food and good company," he said.

Brennan gave him a small smile and stepped aside to let him enter. He headed toward the dining room and she went to grab their usual beers from the refrigerator. The two made small talk while they ate.

After dinner was cleaned up, they headed to her couch with fresh beers. Booth's mood turned serious and he asked the question that had been on his mind for the past few hours. "Temperance, are you okay? And don't say you're just fine; I 'd like a real answer."

'He never calls my by my first name. This isn't what I expected,' Brennan thought wildly. 'What do I say?'

Slowly she asked, "Why do you think I'm not okay?"

Booth explained his observations, and concluded, "And I don't think this is the first time either. I just need to make sure you're okay, really okay."

Brennan thought, 'I can't believe he noticed. I knew he was good at reading people, but I never expected this.' But she said something different. "Do you ever feel like something's just wrong?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied. "Usually when we're interviewing suspect. It's that 'gut feeling' of mine you keep dismissing," he teased, winking to let her know he was joking.

"No, no. That's not what I meant," Brennan said. "Sometimes I just feel like something is wrong with me. I'll start feeling a bit off, sometimes down. I try and figure out exactly what's wrong, but I can't."

She turned and looked at him instead of the wall. Booth nodded, surprised that she was sharing so freely.

"It will last for a bit – a few days, a couple of weeks, a month at most. The only way I know to cope is to keep busy. It's almost like I'm compelled to do something to distract myself. Eventually it wears off and things go back to normal."

She looked away. Booth waited patiently to see if she would continue. He wanted to reach out a hand to comfort her, but wasn't sure if it would be a good idea.

After a few minutes of silence, she continued, "It used to only happen once a year. But the last few years it's started to happen more often – twice, and then three times a year.

"I _really_ don't like emotions. They're not logical and although I've tried, I just can't ignore them…" she said, frustrated. Brennan pursed her lips. 'Talking about this is not making me feel any better,' she thought with despair.

She continued anyway. "When I feel, well, off, that's the best it ever is. Sometimes…" she trailed off.

She looked at Booth, trying to gauge his reaction, despite her generally dismal track record at reading body language.

He gazed back at her for a few seconds. "What's it like when it's worse?" he prompted.

Brennan hesitated a moment. "The worse it is, the more I have to distract myself to deal. Sometimes it feels like I'm walking around wounded, with my heart cut open – like someone ripped off a scab from over a suppurating wound that just won't heal, kind of like how I felt when my family deserted me. Sometimes I can barely cope. I'm afraid that someday I won't be able to." She sniffed, holding back tears.

Booth couldn't just sit there anymore. He scooted toward her and wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks for telling me, Temperance," he said softly. He felt her take a deep breath, and then a few shorter ones.

She sighed. "I'm just… broken," she said sadly, summing everything up. Her shoulders slumped.

He tightened his arms a bit. 'I can't fix this, but I can comfort her.'

She relaxed into his arms. She felt secure, protected. He couldn't make problem, whatever it was, go away, but his caring felt wonderful.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to Sarali1983 for her review. **

Booth continued to observe Brennan over the next couple of days. Her work hours continued to stretch and she pulled back from her team subtly. He became more and more concerned about her.

On Thursday evening, he walked into Brennan's office about 9 o'clock with takeout for them both. Brennan was hungry so she didn't protest when he suggested she take a break from her work to eat.

Since his concern for her was foremost in his mind, he opened the conversation with, "Are you okay, Bones? You've been working long hours the past few days."

She looked at him and debated with herself for a moment before saying, "You remember what I said a few days ago? Well, this is one of the bad ones. I have to do something to keep my mind occupied and I can't sleep unless I'm exhausted."

'This is not good,' thought Booth.

Brennan continued, "If I don't, I feel like I'm going to implode, like I can't handle life, like I can't cope. So I do what it takes to ride it out."

Booth nodded. "I'd like to do what I can to help," he said.

Sadly, Brennan replied, "I don't think there's anything you can do, but thanks. Frankly it's never been this bad before."

Booth stood, scooped up their trash and dumped it in the trashcan. He offered her a hand up, and said, "Come on. Let's go home for the evening. We'll watch a movie or something. If you continue to staying late like this Angela's going to notice."

She looked surprised, but placed her hand in his. He helped her up and waited patiently as she gathered her jacket and purse. 'It would be nice to do something different. I've told him how I feel, but I don't think he really gets it. I'm still hiding most of the pain. If I could only figure out why… or how to better express what I'm feeling.' she thought with despair.

Since Brennan still hadn't replaced her TV, they ended up at Booth's apartment. They had stopped and picked up a couple of movies on the way there, but Brennan found a documentary on the history channel she wanted to watch.

Although Booth didn't find it particularly interesting, he didn't argue with her choice. After a few minutes, he said, "Can I get you a drink?"

Brennan glanced at him with a slightly irritated expression, and said, "Water, please. And don't interrupt the show. I might miss something good."

He returned with their drinks and found Brennan completely absorbed in the show. Every once in a while she would verbally disagree with the speaker and correct their facts.

Booth only watched it with half his attention. The other half was trained on his partner, trying to assess how she was doing. 'She looks pretty exhausted.' When her glass was empty, he quietly went to the kitchen to refill it.

When he returned and sat down next to her, she scooted closer to him. He was momentarily surprised, but she was focused on the TV and seemed unaware of her actions. 'She really needs some sleep. I may get some flack for this later, but…' He grabbed a pillow, placed it on his lap, and gently pulled her into a reclining position.

Brennan looked up at him, shrugged, and turned back to the TV. Not long afterward, she was asleep. He sat for a while, just watching her. 'She even looks sad in her asleep. I feel so helpless.'

Eventually he got up, careful not to disturb her. He retrieved a blanket from the linen closet and tucked it around her. He went to the other room to leave a voicemail for his boss letting him know he might be late in the morning. Then he brushed his teeth and climbed into bed, his heart heavy.


	3. Chapter 3

For being in one of her "off" times, Brennan felt remarkably refreshed when she woke the next morning. As she shook off the muzziness of sleep, it took her a minute to realize where she was. 'I can't believe I fell asleep on his couch. Wait, what time is it?' Her momentary panic was allayed when she saw 5:30 flashing on Booth's VCR.

She didn't want to wake him, so she just lay there, thinking. She tried to think about the work waiting for her at the office, but it wasn't long before her emotions overwhelmed her. 'I just feel so broken, like a ceramic pot someone tried to keep together with twine. Like I might shatter at any moment.' The deep sadness welled up in her. She sat up, buried her face in the blanket and she started to sob quietly.

A while later, she heard Booth get out of the shower. She didn't want him to find her crying, so she wiped her eyes and straightened her hair. She took a few deep breaths, trying to push her emotions away.

The minute Booth saw her slumped over on the couch, he knew something was wrong. He stood in front of her, put a hand under her chin and raised her head. She gave him a small smile, but she couldn't hide the fact that her eyes were puffy from crying, and there was a bleakness in her eyes.

"Oh, Bones," he sighed. He sat down next to her and put his arms around her, offering what comfort he could. Brennan tried hard not to start crying again.

Just as she was about to lose the battle, Booth's cell phone rang.

He glanced at the caller id: Cullen. Crap, he had to take the call. "Good morning, sir." He paused, listening to his boss. "No. I was already awake." Another pause. "Yes, sir. We'll be there in about an hour."

When he turned to look at Brennan, she asked, "We have a case?"

She was grateful when he nodded. 'Work to do. Something to help me cope.' She stood up quickly and slipped into her shoes, and then waited by the door while he put on his shoes and grabbed his wallet and badge.

After dropping her off at the door of her apartment, he went to get coffee and muffins for them for breakfast. By the time he returned, she was ready and waiting. He handed her her coffee and she sipped it on the way to the Jeffersonian. She ran in, retrieved her kit, and hopped back into the SUV.

After polishing off her breakfast, Brennan asked Booth about the details of the case, but he didn't have anything more than an address yet. He had barely pulled into the parking spot before she was out the door. He hurried to catch up with her.

"Where are my remains?" she demanded of the police officer at the scene.

He looked as if he was about to tell her she shouldn't be there, when Booth flashed his badge and performed the introductions. Soon they were headed to the crime scene.

Heavy rains from the day before had washed away the topsoil, partially revealing a skeleton. Brennan immediately began examining it and calling out the details to Booth. "Female, 8 to 10 years old. Multiple fractures are evident on both femurs."

"Cause of death?" Booth asked.

"I won't be able to tell until we remove the body from the ground and I can examine it more thoroughly in the lab."

Booth handed Brennan her kit, and she began to uncover more of the body, calling out the injuries as they became apparent. When she uncovered the left hand, she said tersely, "Booth, we have another body. We'd better call for the mobile unit."

He looked up from his notes and saw the fingers of a second skeleton next to the one Brennan was working on. Booth called and arranged for Jack and Zach to bring it and some more equipment.

By the time her other team members had arrived, Brennan had completely uncovered the first body, and judged it to African American. There were three corpses, all African-American children; the second two younger than the first one. The work went more quickly with the others there, but it was still mid-afternoon before they were done.

Booth tried to talk Brennan into taking a break to grab lunch, but she insisted on fast food and ate in the car.

She spent the afternoon absorbed in her work. Her raw emotions from the morning made it hard for her to compartmentalize and she snapped at everyone.

When Booth returned a few hours later for an update, Angela stopped him before he went onto the platform. "She's not handling this case well. It's always harder for all of us when the victims are children, but this one is particularly bad. She's been really irritable all afternoon, and she's insisting we continue to work," Angela warned him.

He nodded and proceeded to the platform, swiping his card before ascending. Brennan immediately noticed him and started to give him a run down of the afternoon's examination.

"You've been on the platform since I left?" he asked.

When she nodded, he said, "Why don't we go sit in your office? Your back is probably sore if you've been bending over the remains for the past few hours. You can give me the details there just as well as here."

She continued her update as the two walked toward her office. Booth followed her into the office and then closed the door behind him.

"Angela will have the facial reconstructions for us by noon tomorrow, and I'm going to go over the bones again tonight," she completed her update.

"Look, it's a Friday night and it's now 8 o'clock. Usually they would have left by now. You're asking your team to work on the weekend, so let them go home now. I brought some paperwork to do. I'll run out and grab us some dinner. After we eat we can continue working," Booth offered.

And that's what they did. Around 11 o'clock, Booth began to get tired and wanted to leave, but one glance at the set of Brennan's shoulders told him the argument wasn't worth it.

At 2AM, Brennan woke Booth from a snooze and let him know she was leaving. He escorted her to her car and then turned to his.

When he arrived home, he literally dropped into bed, taking time only to remove his shoes.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to warmfuzzys for the review and to everyone who's enjoying the story enough to set an alert. Also thanks to redrider6612 to read and edited the whole story for me. **

The rest of the weekend followed Friday's pattern. Feeling the need to look after Brennan, Booth was up early and stayed late with her. She wasn't interested in food at all, and wouldn't have eaten if he hadn't shoved the food into her hands. In addition to completing her examination of the three skeletons from their case, she had also identified several bodies from limbo. Booth had completed all his back paperwork by mid-afternoon on Sunday. He spent the rest of the time playing solitaire on one of the lab computers.

When Monday morning rolled around, Cam took one look at the partners and said, "After this case is over, you two should take a couple days and rest."

Brennan began to object, but Booth leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You can argue with her once the case is solved."

Out loud he said, "We need to interview the parents of the three children who were murdered."

The interview with the parents led to interviews with several of the kid's friends, after which the father was brought in for questioning. He was no match for Booth and Brennan and eventually confessed to killing them after becoming insanely angry with them when they misbehaved.

As he drove Brennan back to the Jeffersonian, Brennan voiced her struggle with the case, "I've never understood how any adult could harm a child, but their own parents?"

Booth nodded and softly answered, "It's a messed up world out there sometimes. I think the guy was a bit unhinged."

After moment of silence, Booth changed the subject. "Bones, Cam is going to force you to take some time off. You can argue all you want, but after working so hard this weekend…"

She glared at him. "You don't know what the past few days have been like. Working is how I deal. I can't take time off, you don't know what it will do to me," she confessed, desperately trying to enlist his help.

'She can't keep working like this, but she must be really afraid of what will happen to react like that.' He sighed. "I don't think I'd be able to convince Cam. Look, I worked the weekend too. I'll talk to Cullen about taking a few days off and do what I can to help," he said.

He pulled up in front of the employee entrance to the Jeffersonian and Brennan climbed out of the car. He watched as she grabbed her kit and shuffled slowly into the building, her shoulders hunched over.

* * *

Brennan slipped into her office and sat at her desk. She stared abstractedly at the wall until Angela interrupted her.

"Bad afternoon?" she queried.

Brennan turned. "Huh? I missed that."

"I asked if you had a bad afternoon, but I think you just answered the question," said Angela.

Brennan responded, "It was their father. I know people think I don't like children because I don't want any of my own, but on days like this I think people who do want them must be crazy. Why would anyone want to bring a child into a world like this?" Brennan took a breath and continued, "I really need to start my report for this case."

Angela nodded sympathetically. "If you want to talk about it, you know where I am," she offered with a smile before exiting.

Brennan pulled out her notes and began to organize them. She had just started her report when Cam walked in.

"You catch the guy who murdered those three kids?" she asked.

"It was their father," Brennan said, hoping she wouldn't need to say it again. "I just started the report."

Cam nodded. "When you're done, take a few days off. You worked way too many hours this weekend."

Brennan argued fiercely, but it was no use.

"I know you don't like it, Dr. Brennan. But the Jeffersonian could be in legal trouble if you don't. If I have to, I'll have security de-activate your badge temporarily."

* * *

A few minutes before the end of the business day, Booth stood in Deputy Director Cullen's office, completed case file in hand.

"This better not take long, Agent Booth," Cullen said. "My wife and I are supposed to be having dinner with some old friends who are currently in town."

"Here's the file on the case Dr. Brennan and I solved earlier today. I'd like to take a few days off. I know it isn't much notice, but there are no major cases on my desk and I am caught up on my paperwork," Booth replied.

"Yes. I saw it this morning. What made you decide to complete it now?" Cullen asked.

Booth answered, "It's this case, sir. It hit Dr. Brennan pretty hard, and she worked all weekend to solve it. I needed to make sure she was okay, so I…"

Cullen interrupted, "I get the picture."

"I worked almost as many hours as she did," Booth pointed out.

"Fine," Cullen agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi, Bones," Booth spoke into his phone. "What time do you think you'll be done tonight?"

"About eight or so," she replied.

"Okay. I'll handle dinner," he said. "You know, we're going to need something to do for the next few days. Maybe we should get you a TV."

"Sure, fine." Brennan agreed, distractedly.

* * *

Booth showed up at Brennan's apartment at 8:30 with pizza and beer. The two ate in silence, Brennan staring off into space, not really seeing anything.

After a bit, Booth said, "Penny for your thoughts."

Brennan looked at him and, with her usual blunt manner, said, "Maybe what that guy did to his children was kinder than what my family did to me. They're dead now and they don't have to struggle anymore. But me? I live everyday with their abandonment, with the consequences of their poor choices. Rationally, I know it wasn't something that I did that caused them to leave, especially after watching my mom's video. But I lived with the uncertainty for so long…"

Living with a few of his own uncertainties, Booth momentarily considered sharing but decided that now was not the time.

When Brennan picked up a journal on forensics and started to thumb through the pages, Booth tossed out the pizza box. He returned to find her absorbed in an article, so he left himself out, saying, "I'll see you in the morning around nine to shop for a TV."

After she finished that article, she turned to another and then another.

* * *

When Booth let himself in the next morning with her "hidden" spare key, she was sleeping on her couch in almost the exact position she had been when he left. A journal lay on the floor and there were several on her coffee table. 'She must have dozed off while reading.' Then he noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks. 'She told me things were bad, if she's crying like this in her sleep…'

He called her name softly, and she was awake instantly. "I thought you went home, Booth," she said.

"I did. You must have fallen asleep while reading," he responded. "Just how late did you stay up reading?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know. The last time I looked at the clock it was around 3AM, and I think I read a few articles after that. I'm almost caught up on my back reading," she smiled brightly.

"You're supposed to be taking time off, and that's practically work. Not sleeping isn't going to help you get back to work sooner," Booth chided her gently.

She wrapped her arms around herself, and said in a small voice, "I had to read to cope. I just couldn't do anything else. I tried to sleep, but my brain wouldn't turn off and… I just couldn't handle it."

Deciding she'd had enough of the conversation for the moment, she stood and headed toward her bedroom to get ready. Booth ambled toward the kitchen and started the coffeemaker.

TV shopping went surprisingly well, mostly because Brennan didn't care what Booth decided she needed. She let him make the decisions and paid for everything.

"We have enough time to grab lunch before the delivery guys arrive at your place," Booth said.

Brennan shrugged, "I'm not hungry."

"Come on, doesn't anything sound good?" Booth asked.

Eventually he chose a restaurant and they both ordered. But when the food arrived, Brennan just picked at her salad. They left as soon as he finished his meal.

Not long after they returned to Brennan's apartment, a knock on the door disturbed her reading. Before she looked up from her latest journal, Booth said, "I'll get the door. It's probably the delivery guys."

After looking at the boxes, he decided to he needed to move the coffee table, to make space for him to work. He hauled it into the dining the room and then directed the delivery guys where to set the boxes.

Booth smiled to see her new flat screen TV, DVD player, and surround sound system. 'Maybe by the time I'm done getting this set up, she'll have finished catching up on her reading.'

After determining what type of setup he needed to hang the TV on her wall, he said, "Bones, you have a hammer and screwdrivers, right?" She looked up from her reading and nodded. "Good, then I only need a few brackets. I'm going to run down to Home Depot and get them."

Brennan got up and dug a spare key out of her drawer. "Here," she offered it to him. "This way you wont disturb my reading when you come back."

Booth's trip was quick. He found everything easily and he returned about half-an-hour later.

After he finished with the TV, he started the connecting the DVD player. Part way through the installation of her surround sound system, he noticed she had fallen asleep curled up in her chair. 'She really needs her sleep. I'd rather continue later than wake her up.' So he stretched out on her couch and soon fell asleep also.

** A/N: Thanks to jerseybones for the review. :-)**


	6. Chapter 6

The sirens of an emergency vehicle woke the pair. Booth was the first to see the clock. "It's 5 o'clock," he said.

Brennan looked out the window. "It's dark," she said in a puzzled tone.

Booth pulled out his cell phone. "We didn't just sleep for a couple of hours, we slept all afternoon and evening," he exclaimed, amazed. "We must have been really wiped out."

Brennan stood, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Um…" Booth began. "If you don't mind, I'll just grab my bag from the SUV and get ready here."

She nodded her agreement and headed toward her bathroom. She stepped into the shower, enjoying the warmth of the water. Her mind started to wander and it wasn't long before the sadness hit her all over again. It settled like a weight on her chest and shoulders. Standing was too much effort, so she sat down. The water still felt good but it couldn't wash away her emotions. Brennan reached slowly for the shampoo, her emotions tingeing all her thoughts with a grey sadness. Eventually she couldn't hold the tears at bay any longer and she began to cry. 'At least Booth won't disturb me here and the water will hide the evidence this time,' she thought. She continued, ever so slowly to soap her body, crying all the while.

When she started conditioning her hair, she began to see black spots around the edge of her vision. 'I think I'm going to faint. When was the last time I ate?' she tried to think back but couldn't really remember.

"Booth. Booth," she called. 'I hope he didn't leave.' She raised her voice a bit and tried again, "Booth. Booth!"

A minute later, his voice came through the door, "Bones, you all right in there?"

"I really need something to eat. My blood sugar is low and I'm close to fainting," she replied.

He hurried to her kitchen and started opening the cupboards. When he saw how bare they were, he thought, 'Does she ever eat here?' The next cupboard revealed a box of crackers. He snatched them up and returned to the bathroom door.

"I found you some crackers," he called.

"Great. Can you hand some to me?" she asked.

He carefully opened the door, saw her hand reaching from behind the bath curtain, and placed a few crackers in it. She pulled her hand back into the shower. "I'm putting the box down here, so you can get more," he informed her.

She mumbled a thank you through the crackers she was chewing.

He closed the door, withdrew to the living room to finish connecting the last few chords of her new entertainment system, thinking about what just happened. 'I knew I should have made her eat more at lunch yesterday. And there's no food in this house.'

Brennan chewed the crackers. 'They're a bit stale, but they'll do the job,' she thought.

Brennan slowly finished her shower and forced herself to get out. She knew Booth was waiting, but she just couldn't seem to make herself get dressed quickly. Eventually after staring at her closet and then her drawers, she decided to wear her oldest and most comfortable jeans and a shirt.

Messing with her hair and make-up seemed like too much effort, so she wandered into the living room to let Booth know it was his turn. He wasn't in there, so she went to the next room in search of him. Instead of Booth, she found a note, letting her know that he'd be back in few minutes.

She wandered slowly around the house, looking for something to do. She had several new books, but didn't feel like reading them. 'And I don't have the energy to work on my book,' she thought.

Since nothing seemed interesting, she settled down on the couch and decided to try out her new system. She flipped from channel to channel, but found nothing appealing.

The sound of a key turning in the lock alerted her that Booth was returning, so she got up and walked toward the door. When it opened, she started in amazement. 'How can one person juggle so many bags? Did he buy the whole grocery store?' She grabbed a bag or two from him and led him to the kitchen.

They started unpacking the bags in silence and putting things away. Brennan was slow, and answered Booth's questions about where things went in as few words as possible.

When everything was put away, Booth sighed with pleasure. "Now we'll have food to eat for the next few days."

Brennan looked at him and opted not to tell him just how little food interested her. Instead she replied, "The shower's all yours."

Booth, however, ignored her statement and started making eggs and toast.

A few minutes later he set a plate in front of her and said, "You need to eat. I need my partner 100 to help me catch the bad guys." He smiled to soften the command, but the firm tone is his voice indicated he wouldn't allow her to refuse.

Irritated by his bossiness but realizing that arguing would take energy she didn't have, she took a bite. 'He makes some mean scrambled eggs.' She took another bite, enjoying the flavor.

He smiled encouragingly at her, and then went to get his own plate.

He tried to make small talk over breakfast, but Brennan seemed to be looking through him rather than at him. After asking two questions that she didn't respond to, Booth gave up and finished eating in silence.

When the two were finished, Booth headed to the shower and Brennan cleaned up. She put the plates in the dishwasher, but lazily decided not to scrub the egg pan yet. Instead she pulled out a puzzle of the Taj Mahal and started to sort the edge pieces from the middle ones. Although she normally enjoyed putting together the occasional puzzle, the task didn't hold her attention for long. Soon she was wandering the apartment again looking for something to occupy her and keep her from thinking – no feeling – too much.


	7. Chapter 7

While she waited for Booth to be done in the bathroom, Brennan wandered around the apartment in a half daze. She felt hurt inside, as if she was drowning in her pain, and there was nothing she could do to keep her head above water. The enormity of it reminded her of how she felt when her family abandoned her, and the lonely years she spent in foster care. She tried not to think about it, but somehow it kept coming up.

"Why are you crying?" Booth asked quietly from the doorway.

Brennan jumped, surprised, and said, "You shouldn't sneak up on me like that. And I'm not crying."

He reached out a finger and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "Um, Bones? What do you call this?" He held out his finger for her to inspect. She pursed her lips, unwilling to admit that he was right. "What were you thinking about?"

She looked at him carefully, and, seeing compassion in his gaze, answered, "It all came back to me: how I felt when my family left, what it was like not to have any friends. I mean, it wasn't like I fit in very well before my parents left, but I had a couple of friends and my family. When my family left, it was like my heart was ripped out of my chest."

The tears continued to flow down Brennan's cheeks, unnoticed by her. "And then I was moved from school to school. I never stayed long anywhere. I didn't have much of a chance to make friends and then the kids would tease me or make snide remarks. At first I was so devastated by the loss of my family that I didn't really notice. Eventually I couldn't carry the pain around with me anymore, so I just pushed it away. I put it in a room, walked out, and closed the door behind me. That was when I learned just how mean kids could be."

Brennan collapsed onto the couch. "I tried to fit in, but nothing seemed to help. I got picked on either way. So I decided that I didn't care what people thought of me and I kept to myself. I buried myself further in my studies and books." Brennan sniffed. "There are so many ways that I'm still that abandoned lonely girl."

Booth sat down beside her, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. His heart ached for her as he reflected on the all the pain she had just revealed.

They sat like that for a while. Brennan cried quietly in his arms and he slowly rubbed her back.

When it seemed that she had cried herself out, he decided it was time for a distraction. "It's almost lunchtime. How about I buy you lunch and we catch a movie?"

He was surprised when she replied, "I don't really feel like going out."

"C'mon. It'll get your mind off things," he cajoled.

She shrugged and gave in. She didn't have the energy to argue with him. At the restaurant he ordered a hearty meal for her. When she would have abandoned it after a few bites, he kept at her until she ate a good portion of it.

After lunch he bought them tickets for a documentary she had mentioned wanting to see. At first it didn't seem very good, but part way through she started to get interested. Afterward, she thanked him. "I think getting out was good. I didn't really want to, but the movie turned out to be pretty good. Of course a few of their facts were wrong."

As she analyzed the movie, Booth smiled. 'That's my Bones.'

But the slice of normalcy was short lived, and on the way back to her apartment, her earlier mood settled back in. Although he didn't much like puzzles, he sat down and worked it with her for about half an hour. When she decided to try to read, he browsed her bookshelves to find something to read. After a quick perusal nothing looked interesting, so he looked again more slowly. Soon she was asleep on her couch, and he gave up altogether.

Figuring that she would sleep for a while, Booth went out. He stopped by the bookstore to pick up some reading material for himself. If he was going to hang out with her for the next few days he'd need something to do when she was reading. He browsed the music and then the DVDs. After making his purchases, Booth wandered next door to the Toys 'Я' Us. He purchased a present for Parker and a couple of other things. Next he headed to Blockbuster where he rented a couple of movies to watch that evening. As he left the video store, he smiled. 'Maybe a movie about women who kick butt will cheer her up,' he thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Brennan woke soon after Booth's return. She glanced at the clock.

"I can't believe I slept for three hours!" she voiced her thought out loud.

"It's okay, Bones. Given the way you worked this weekend, you probably needed it," Booth replied. "Besides, Cam gave you time off so you can rest. The sooner you're rested the sooner you can get back to work."

Brennan's face brightened at the thought of returning to work.

"So, what do you want to do between now and dinner?" Booth asked.

At Brennan's shrug, he walked to the other room, and then returned with something behind his back.

A big grin appeared on his face as he said, "I have a surprise for you."

She looked at him waiting for him to elaborate, but he remained silent. She rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

He pulled the box from behind his back and offered it to her. There was a strange looking man on the front of the box and the word "Operation." Puzzled she looked at Booth.

"It's a game. Since you're a doctor and all, I thought you might enjoy it." He reached out a hand and she handed it back to him. He opened the box, took the game out, and set it up on her coffee table. Explaining the rules took only slightly longer than setting it up.

Now that Booth's hands were out of the way, she finally got a good look at the game.

"Booth, this isn't anatomically correct," she said.

"Of course not," he replied. "Mostly the names are based on idioms or well-known jokes. It doesn't really matter, let's just play."

"I get the spare ribs and the Adam's apple, but brain freeze?" she asked.

"It's what happens when you eat something cold too fast. You get a brain freeze." Booth answered.

"Oh."

Brennan picked up the tweezers and carefully removed her first piece. She handed him the tweezers and Booth took his turn. At the end of the game she had almost twice as many body parts as he did and way more money.

Booth said, "You won," trying to have a good attitude even though he was a little sore at having been beaten so badly.

"You know I have a steady hand from all the remains I work with. Do you want to play again?" The game wasn't that fun, but it was keeping her mind off things.

"Okay, but only once more. Then we should start on dinner," Booth replied.

"That's just because your ego couldn't take getting beaten three times in a row by a girl," Brennan flippantly accused him.

Booth grabbed the tweezers, trying to hide his chagrined expression.

The second game went much like the first. When it was over, Booth left Brennan to put it back in the box and went to the kitchen to start dinner.

Two minutes later she wandered into the kitchen. "What are we making?"

"Spaghetti, with homemade sauce, salad, and garlic bread," he replied. "Would you mind starting the salad? I'm working on the sauce right now."

The two worked companionably in Brennan's kitchen. Soon the smell of the food cooking piqued her appetite. When she took her first bite of spaghetti, she sighed with pleasure. The flavor of the sauce was incredible.

"Not bad, huh?" Booth asked.

"You're just begging for a compliment," she said. "But if you ever get tired of catching criminals, you could think about opening a restaurant. What did you put in this? It's wonderful."

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Booth joked.

Brennan looked confused. "I don't know what that means."

He sighed, "It's a joking way to tell someone you don't want to answer their question."

"I don't see how you of all people can joke about killing someone. It's not funny and you know that better than anyone," Brennan replied.

Booth sighed. "Why do you always have to bring up my past? And do you always have to analyze every single little thing and respond literally?"

"I don't even know how to begin respond to that," Brennan said, putting her fork in her mouth to avoid having to talk.

The two lingered over dinner, their conversation flowing more normally than it had over the past few days.

"I picked up a movie that I think you'll like," Booth said, as they put the dishes into the sink.

"You know I'm not much for movies," Brennan replied.

He filled the sink with soap and water, and they left the dishes to soak.

"I think you'll like this one."

He popped the DVD into her player and then handed her the box.

"Lara Croft. Tomb Raider," she read.

A few minutes into the movie, Brennan began to say that the movie was completely unrealistic.

"You're supposed to suspend your disbelief while you watch the movie. You can tell me all about the problems with it afterward," he shushed her.

Afterward, she explained to him the theory of time espoused in the movie was impossible. "Time is not like a movie reel with each frame representing a point in time. Once it's passed it no longer exists."

"So what? Besides the time thing it was pretty fun, huh? I thought maybe you'd enjoy watching her kick butt," Booth said.

"Yes. She used moves from several different martial arts," Brennan began.

But Booth cut her off, "Can we please not analyze this anymore? Let's work on the puzzle for a bit."

Not long afterward, Booth said goodnight and headed home.

**A/N: Thanks to beaglelvr93 and jerseybones for their reviews. **


	9. Chapter 9

Brennan woke early the next morning, feeling good and looking forward to going into the office. A moment later she remembered that she still had one more day of forced vacation. She groaned. After an unsuccessful attempt to sleep longer, she got up and took her time getting ready for the day.

She went to the kitchen and finished cleaning up after their dinner.

'I feel pretty good today,' she thought. 'Maybe I can make some progress on my book.' She spent the next few hours typing furiously on her laptop. She completed two chapters, but ran into problems with her third. In the middle of trying to describe the emotional impact a traumatic event had on her character Kathy Reichs, Brennan's own emotions rose again and she found herself unable to continue.

After reflecting on the source of her emotions for a few minutes, she decided that she could think just as well while she was sorting laundry. She went to the closet that held her laundry and started tossing clothes into the washer. The process took her almost twice as long as usual because her brain was occupied with another useless attempt at analyzing her emotions.

The doorbell rang just as she started the washing machine and she hurried to answer it, unsurprised to see Booth on the other side.

"I come bearing breakfast," he said with a silly grin.

"You mean you bought the whole grocery store yesterday, but it didn't include breakfast?" she teased, as she let him in.

As they laid out breakfast, he watched her carefully trying to figure how she was doing. Her teasing sounded normal, but he noticed that her shoulders were more hunched than usual and her eyes were a little sad.

During breakfast he asked, "How's your morning been so far?"

"Oh, I woke up early and wrote a couple chapters on my book. I had just started a load of laundry when you arrived, "she answered.

"But?" he prompted.

Brennan put her elbows on the table and slumped over. "But… it's like I can't turn off my feelings, or even control them sometimes," she sighed. "They just sort of start to take over. And I don't know what to do. They're not rational, so analyzing them is useless. I just wish they would go away!" she ground out in frustration. "I keep trying to figure out why, what caused them. But the thoughts just swirl around in my head – from one painful event to the next – and then back again."

"You've told me how you feel about your family and foster care, but I know there are other things…" Booth trailed off, hoping she would take the hint.

The phone rang, and she glanced at him before walking to the phone. Her shoulders straightened a bit and her expression became businesslike.

She picked up the phone and said, "Hello," and then "Hi, Angela. I'm doing okay."

Booth could only hear Brennan's side of the conversation.

"Yes, I'm taking it easy. I've slept more hours than I care to remember."

She rolled her eyes, and replied, "I did write two chapters, but I only spent a few hours on it. Anything interesting happen at the lab in the past couple of days?"

"Okay. Maybe on Saturday. See you tomorrow. Bye." She hung up the phone.

"Anything interesting happening at the lab?" Booth asked.

"Not unless you count almost everybody being caught up on their paperwork as interesting," Brennan replied.

Booth changed the subject. "Hey, let's walk to the park down the street and enjoy the great outdoors."

"It'd be nice to get out of the house," Brennan said, and she headed to her room to put on some shoes.

Not long after, the two reached the park. They walked the paths for about half an hour and then sat on a bench.

She sighed in contentment. "I love coming here. There's something about seeing nature and being around it that makes me feel free."

"Not like the lab?" he asked.

"No. The lab is fine. It was being locked in that cell in El Salvador that gave me a greater appreciation for the outdoors."

Booth was silent, hoping she would continue.

A minute later she turned toward him and said, "They locked me in a cell. I wasn't given very much food, so I was hungry all the time. For a long time I tried to figure out a way to escape, but eventually the lack of food made my brain fuzzy. There were no facilities and it was really hot, so my cell stank. I was afraid all the time because I never knew when someone would come in threaten me. It didn't seem to matter if it was day or night. Two or three men with rifles would come into my cell. They would push me to the ground and loom over me, leering, harassing, and hitting me. I was afraid one of them would follow through on their threats of physical assault and death."

Booth nodded. "I hate that feeling," he said. "It sounds similar to what happened to me when my feet were beaten. I lived in fear of the door opening."

Such a heavy topic could only be discussed for so long, and then they lapsed into silence. Soon the cheerful sunniness of the day burned off the cloud of their somber conversation.

They meandered around the park, enjoying each other's company in silence.

"Hey, that tree looks like a good climbing tree. Come on," Booth said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the tree.

She tried to pull her he hand out of his. "Booth, have you suddenly gone crazy?" she asked.

"Nope. You're never too old to enjoy climbing a tree," he said happily.

Brennan planted her feet and tried again. Her hand slipped from his, and she fell backwards.

"I've already fallen far enough today," she called. "You'll just have to climb it by yourself."

She was unsurprised to see him shimmy up the tree and find a comfortable spot in under a minute.

She got up and walked under the tree. "That's an interesting use for your Ranger training," she commented, looking up at him.

After a moment he dropped from the tree quickly and silently. Then he smiled, and said, "I'm hungry, Bones. Let's go home."

'Booth makes a mean sandwich,' Brennan thought, munching on her sub. 'And there's almost no cleanup either.'

When the two had finished lunch, they retired to living room. As she reached for a book, he snatched it from her. "Nuh uh. We're watching a movie."

With his free hand he grabbed the DVD and popped it into the player.

"But I wanted to read," she whined.

"Come on. You'll like this one," he tried to persuade her. "It's another girls-kick-butt movie."

She sighed, "You won't stop until I watch it, will you?"

"Nope," he said with a smile.

"Oh all right," she gave in.


	10. Chapter 10

As the credits rolled on the movie, Brennan said, "There were several major holes in that story," and she began to enumerate them to Booth.

"Whatever. It was just supposed to be a few hours of entertainment," Booth said. "I'll let you read for a while. I'm going to start dinner."

Brennan grabbed her book and stretched out on the couch. She made it through the next chapter before falling asleep.

In the kitchen Booth had started making Alfredo sauce to go over tortellini when he heard noises coming from the living room. He turned down the heat on his sauce and went to see what was wrong.

He found Brennan tossing and turning on the couch in her sleep, moaning. Trying to wake her up, he called her name. And then he put his hand on her shoulder and tried to shake her awake. Her turning became more frantic. He lifted her torso, sat down on the couch and pulled her into his arms. He began to rock her and speak soft reassurances into her ear. Slowly her movements became calmer and eventually they stopped. He carefully transferred her back to the couch and returned to the kitchen to try and salvage his sauce.

The smell of food woke Brennan and she wandered sleepily into the kitchen.

"Oh good, you're awake," Booth said. "Dinner's just about ready. You want to set the table?"

She did as he asked and soon they were enjoying a meal of tortellini with garlic bread.

"That was some nightmare you were having, Bones," he commented.

"What? How did you know?" Brennan asked, stunned.

"You were thrashing about on the couch and moaning. I tried to wake you up, but it didn't work," he answered, deciding to leave out the rest.

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "The conversation at the park brought back an old nightmare. I was trapped in that cell again. The guards were…" Brennan stopped and swallowed hard, trying to hold back her emotions. "You know what? I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I know sometimes talking doesn't help me, but sometimes talking is kind of like lancing a boil. It hurts a lot in the beginning, but doing so bleeds the edge off of the pain and then it slowly heals. At least that's been my experience."

She stared at him for a moment. "I've already burdened you with so many things the past few days…"

"Bones, you are not a burden," Booth said firmly. "This is what friends do for one another. It's like Ecclesiastes says, 'two are better than one.'"

"But I feel like you're always giving and I'm always taking," Brennan objected.

"Maybe the past few days, but not always," Booth corrected her gently. "You listened and didn't judge me when I shared about being a sniper. You challenge me to be more thorough in my job. You kept checking on me after the clown incident before I was cleared to return to work. You were the one who rescued me when I was captured. That's hardly one-sided."

As Brennan ate a couple of forkfuls of tortellini, he could see she was thinking. Finally she said, "I felt like I was back in that cell all over again. Sometimes in my dreams the guards, they do… the things the real guards threatened to – torture me and... "

"How often do you dream about it?" Booth asked.

"Afterward, it was every night for the first couple of months. And then they gradually came less frequently. Now it's only once every few months at the most. My superiors insisted on sending me to a trauma psychologist when I was back in the states. You know how I feel about psychology."

"Yeah, it's a soft science. But that doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile endeavor to understand how people think and what motivates them. I think most psychologists go into the field because they need treatment themselves, but there are a few really good ones, Dr. Wyatt, for example."

Brennan made a face. He could see she wanted to disagree, but she conceded, "Dr. Wyatt seems to be very good, but that doesn't change my opinion of psychology in general."

"Nice diversionary tactic, Bones. But we're talking about your dream and not psychology." Booth returned the conversation to its main topic. "How do the dreams usually end?"

"Usually I wake up right before I'm about to be killed," she admitted. "I wake up sweating and breathing heavily and I can't go back to sleep. But it's weird, the dream today didn't end like that…"

He nodded, a small smile playing over his face.

She looked at him suspiciously. "What did you do?" she demanded.

"What?" Booth asked, the picture of innocence.

"You knew that this nightmare was different for some reason," she accused.

"It's the first time I've ever seen one of them, but you calmed down and continued to sleep. So when you said they normally woke you up I knew this one was different," Booth explained.

She studied him suspiciously for a minute and then accepted his answer.

Not long after dinner Booth said, "I need to call it a night, Bones. I have to some errands and chores to do before work tomorrow."

As he left, Brennan said, "I owe you a big thanks for everything the past few days. I'll treat you to dinner sometime."

"You know I don't expect anything in return," Booth replied.

"I know," she said, "but it's the least I can do."

Brennan put away her laundry and then spent the rest of the evening reading the last few articles in the latest issue of a forensics journal. Not long after 10PM she was in bed asleep.

A/N: Thanks to J3nnif3r and beaglelvr93 for their reviews. There's only four more chapters to go.


	11. Chapter 11

Brennan was up early the next morning and she was one of the first people to arrive at the Jeffersonian. Looking around her office she sighed in satisfaction. 'It's so good to be back at work,' she thought.

She logged into her computer and started the tedious task of sorting through several days' worth of e-mail. 'Junk. Junk. Oh, that report's done. Junk. More junk. Message from Sandra. I haven't heard from Sandra in forever.' The thought of Sandra dampened Brennan's mood. She skipped that message and continued sorting her e-mail. When the junk was removed, she responded to the most urgent messages and then started reviewing the files in her inbox. Most were reports awaiting her signature. A few were still in need of her contributions.

By the time the rest of the team had arrived, Brennan had almost managed to push her mood away by burying herself in her work.

Angela practically bounced into Brennan's office. "Welcome back, sweetie," she sang. "So did you have a nice relaxing few days, or was it just awful?"

"Oh, I slept a lot, watched a few movies, caught up reading my anthropology journals…" Brennan answered, somewhat distracted by the document on her screen.

"What did you watch?" asked Angela.

"Um…" Brennan turned her attention from the screen and looked at Angela. "Tomb Raider and Charlie's Angels?"

"Those don't sound like movie's you'd pick. Plus they've been out for a while and you don't have a TV." Angela observed.

"I do now. TV, DVD player, and surround sound I think," she replied.

"You think? You don't know?" queried the artist.

"Booth picked it out, I bought it, and he installed it. If you really want the details, ask him."

"Wait. You hung out with Booth on your days off?" Angela asked in disbelief.

As Brennan opened her mouth to reply, Angela squealed, "I knew it! I knew you would get together eventually!"

"What? No," Brennan refuted Angela. "We both had time off at the same time and we're friends. It's logical that we would spend some time together." Brennan returned her attention to the document on her screen and made a correction, hoping that Angela would drop her line of questioning. 'I love Angela, but sometimes her exuberance is a bit difficult to handle,' Brennan thought.

"Okay," Angela said, "you and me. The diner. At noon." Her tone indicated she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Brennan nodded absently as Angela exited her office.

Around 11:45 Booth walked into Brennan's office, a file in hand. "We have a case, Bones," he said.

She reached for the file, but he pulled it away from her. "Huh uh. We're having lunch first and then we'll head to the crime scene."

Angela walked in, "Bren, are you ready to go?"

"Ange, we have a case," Brennan responded.

"But we're going to eat first," Booth responded firmly.

Angela's eyes lit up. "Two suspects to interrogate," she said with a suggestive wink as they headed for lunch.

Booth let Angela walk ahead of him and grabbed Brennan's arm. "What did you tell her?" he demanded with a whisper.

"Just that you installed a TV and DVD player and that we watched some movies," she replied in a hushed voice.

It took a concerted effort from both Booth and Brennan to convince Angela that nothing in their relationship had changed during the past few days, although Booth suspected she hadn't completely let go of the idea.

After lunch they dropped Angela off at the Jeffersonian. Booth had expected Brennan to immediately start reading the case file, but as he pulled out of the parking lot she slumped in the passenger seat with sigh.

"Bones, you all right?" he asked, his concern evident.

"Nothing's wrong exactly. I was so glad to be back at work this morning, but then…" she trailed off for a minute. "And after that Angela came in and wanted to know how my time off was. I completed the paperwork that was waiting for me when I returned. And you were there for lunch. Sometimes Angela is a bit much when I'm feeling good. So it was just hard."

"What was hard?" Booth asked, a bit confused by her scattered reply. He pulled to a stop at a red light and looked over at her.

"The pretending, you know, acting like everything is normal," she said softly.

Booth nodded. He knew better than most just how hard that could be.

"The light's green," Brennan said.

"What made you feel like you needed to pretend?" Booth asked as he accelerated.

"I got an e-mail from an old friend. I haven't read it yet, but we went through some… hard things… together. I haven't heard from her in a while, so it brought back unpleasant memories," she explained. "I thought maybe I'd rather read it at home."

She picked up the case folder and started reviewing what they had so far. "So pretty much all we know is that the body was found in a cardboard box in an alley?" Brennan turned attention to their work.

"Yep," Booth said, as he parked the SUV. "Our contact is Officer Jeff Matthews."

Booth kept the introductions brief and soon she was examining the box. After taking a few pictures of the box from different angles, she handed a crime scene technician the camera and put on surgical gloves. He waited patiently while she told the technician what pictures she needed taken, and then peered over her shoulder.

Instead of beginning her usual description, Brennan said. "As you can see the remains are completely skeletonized and the bones have been placed into the box haphazardly. Since the remains can be transported as is, the rest will have to wait until we're back at the lab."

Brennan examined the rest of the area with a critical eye and then instructed the technicians about the collection of soil, flora, and other substances that might contain information pertinent the investigation.

The box arrived back at the lab about the same time that Booth and Brennan did. She immediately started rearticulating the skeleton and then gave Booth the details he needed.

"Caucasoid male, approximately 60 to 65 years of age, height 5 feet 11 inches. Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma to the skull. The victim was placed in the box after the corpse was skeletonized, so we may not be able to determine time of death with much accuracy. It will be a couple of hours before I'll have any more for you."

Booth took that as his cue to leave. "Call me when you have something," he said as he walked off the platform.


	12. Chapter 12

For the rest of the day, Brennan pushed Sandra's e-mail from her mind and was able to work almost as efficiently as usual. Around 8PM Booth arrived to drag her away from her work.

"Bones, it's getting late. Time to go home, get something to eat and relax," Booth said, grabbing her coat off the rack.

"I'm in the middle of identifying…" she began, but he interrupted her.

"Come on, Bones. The work will be there tomorrow." He attempted to entice her away from her work with the offer of takeout Wong Fu's, but she stubbornly refused. "And you'll have the pleasure of my company for the evening," he cajoled with a charm smile.

"It's a good thing Angela's left for the day already," Brennan hissed. "If you say things like that, she'll never believe we aren't together."

He grinned devilishly at her, quirking an eyebrow. "Well, if you don't want me to add fuel to the fire, don't make me bring out the big guns when it's quitting time!"

She huffed, but stood up and allowed him to help her into her coat.

Half an hour later, the two were sitting in Booth's living room eating their takeout, drinking beer, and bickering amiably. As they finished Brennan started to think about heading for her empty apartment, but Booth had other ideas.

"I think I've seen more emotion from you in the past week, than all of the rest of the time we've worked together," Booth commented. "You were doing better today, but there's still that e-mail."

Brennan nodded. "I can't believe I managed to forget about it for the last few hours."

"You said earlier that the two of you went through some hard times together…" Booth prompted.

But she stood and was already moving to his home office to read the e-mail. He decided against following her and sat waiting.

After a few minutes she returned and sat down next to him on the couch with a sigh.

"Not good news?" he opened the conversation.

She looked at him and replied, "It never is."

"Oh?" he prompted her to continue.

"Well, at least this time she didn't ask me to rescue her from some kind of a jam. She just lost her job, and she wanted me to review her resume."

"But you spent the whole day worried about it," Booth said, although it came out sounding more like a question.

"No, not really, although I did think of it off and on," she contradicted him.

"Okay, then why were you feeling down all day and pretending like you felt normal?" he asked.

"Well, I was in a pretty good mood this morning until I saw the e-mail. Normally her e-mails don't have this effect, but with the way everything has been lately even the possibility of bad news just gets to me," Brennan explained.

When she lapsed into a comfortable silence, Booth decided not to pursue it any further. Instead he offered, "Wanna see if there's anything good on the boob tube?"

He answered Brennan's confused look with a sigh. "It's another name for the TV."

When she didn't object, he turned on the TV. After surfing the channels and not finding a show they both agreed on, he gave in to her desire to watch a documentary. Before a minute had passed, she was muttering corrections. On the first commercial break, Booth got up and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. 'Maybe counting the number of mistakes in the show will help keep me from going out of my mind…' he thought.


	13. Chapter 13

Over the weekend, Booth checked in with Brennan to make sure that she wasn't working too many hours and that she ate regular meals. He coaxed her out of the lab with various reasons, offering her a listening ear and trying to keep her spirits up.

On Sunday, Booth somehow convinced Brennan to take a long lunch in a single try. He had been expecting the usual argument about work, so when she agreed right away he was practically speechless.

An amused expression crossed her face. "Just give me a minute to save these documents and log off my computer," she said.

"So, where do you want to eat?" he asked as they left the building.

After a short discussion they agreed on a Mediterranean restaurant that had recently opened not far from the Jeffersonian.

The conversation flowed easily over lunch, occasionally interrupted by their usual bickering. No matter how much time they spent in each other's company they never ran out of things to talk or argue about.

As lunch was winding down, Brennan said, "You've probably been wondering what happened to Sandra and me."

"I am curious, but don't feel like you have to share," Booth replied, surprised that she was volunteering something of this magnitude. "I know things have been hard lately, and I don't want to…" He couldn't figure out exactly how to word what he was thinking, so he just stopped.

Their waitress brought the check for lunch. He dumped cash onto the tray, and they stood.

As they left the restaurant, she put a hand on his shoulder and said, "It's okay. You once told me that some secrets are not okay to keep. I think it's time for me to share this one."

Booth placed his hand on her lower back and guided her to one of the more secluded areas of the Jeffersonian's gardens. They sat side by side in the shade of a large tree, leaning against its trunk.

Brennan began her story. "The foster home I stayed in the longest belonged to the Dirks. I met Sandra at school. She was a foster kid too and a couple of years younger than me. We hung out mostly because we understood each other and nobody understood us. I looked out for Sandra, tried to protect her from the teasing of the other kids. She's kind of sensitive and sometimes kids would say something thoughtless or just downright mean.

"One night after a basketball game, some of the wild kids asked us to hang out with them. Everyone 'knew' that girls in foster homes were 'easy.' When we told them we had to go home, they practically kidnapped us. After I tried to run away, they tied us up with rope.

"We were in a station wagon, Sandra and I and four crazy guys. I tried to loosen my bonds surreptitiously, while they made jokes about having a party and getting some loving. They stopped at a convenience store, and the two in the front seat went in. While we waited one of the other guys started trying to kiss Sandra. I had to protect her, so I asked him if he wouldn't prefer someone more mature and when he came close to me I slammed my head into his face, breaking his nose.

"About then the other guys returned from the store carrying a case of beer. It couldn't have been more than five seconds later when I hear the sound of sirens. The fours boys looked at each other and then bolted across the street and into some woods. Since the boys were gone, I managed to untie us. I had just gotten us loose. We were getting out of the car when the police arrived.

"Once the lead officer found out who we were, he wanted to book us on charges of robbery. He assumed because we were foster kids, that we had done it. Sandra was so scared she wouldn't say anything. I made him listen to what really happened and told him to talk to the convenience store clerk, look at the security tapes, and check the box of beer for fingerprints. The cop tried to coerce us into telling them who it was, but with all the evidence they had, they didn't need us to tell them so I refused to say anything.

"I thought if we didn't tell maybe we'd be okay at school. The Dirks were one of the better foster families I stayed with and I didn't want to leave. But a few days later the two boys were arrested and everyone assumed we'd told. Life was so miserable that both Sandra and I ended up getting moved again.

"Anyway, ever since then Sandra always expected me to look out for her when I could," Brennan finished.

During the story, Booth listened carefully trying to figure out how she felt about what happened, but she had told the story almost as if it had happened to someone else. He was silent for a minute, trying to figure out what to say.

She looked at him, unable to tell what he was thinking, and said, "Booth, say something, anything."

He turned toward her, and said softly, "Thank you for telling me, Bones. It can't have been easy."

"I've never told anyone that story. All the kids at school thought they knew what happened, but only Sandra and I really knew. It bonded us in a strange way," she replied.

"No, a special way," Booth corrected her gently.

Brennan nodded, and then sighed heavily. "I have to go back to work now, Booth."

He stood up and offered her a hand. When she was standing, he pulled her into a tight hug and whispered, "I'm so glad that you stood up for yourself and Sandra. Even then you were a strong person."

She pulled back from his embrace and looked at seriously him for a moment, before turning and heading into her office.

Although she had told her story relatively unemotionally, she wasn't unaffected by its recital and Booth's comment about her being strong unsettled her a bit. So she holed up in her office and buried herself in paperwork. She was so focused on her work, she jumped when Angela loudly cleared her throat.

"Sheesh! Don't scare me like that," Brennan said.

"I wasn't exactly quiet walking in here," Angela retorted. She sat down on the couch and said, "So, Bren. You wanna tell me what's been going on lately?"

"What?" she said. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been snippy lately and you've been avoiding me. Something's wrong," Angela replied.

Brennan sighed in surrender. "Okay. You caught me."

"So? Elaborate!" she exclaimed, a bit annoyed at her avoidance tactic.

"I don't know what's wrong exactly. I've just been feeling… a little off. A little weird. Not like my usual self," Brennan tried to explain.

"That's not really an explanation," Angela said.

"I know," Brennan replied. "It's just that it's an emotional thing, and you know I don't do emotions. I'm more of an evidence and logic kind of person."

"Maybe if you tried, I could help," Angela offered.

"Thanks, but I really don't want to talk about it," she declined.

Although Angela tried to convince her to say more, Brennan couldn't really come up with a better or clearer explanation and she wasn't really interested in sharing the things she'd already told Booth a second time. In the end she practically shoved Angela out of her office.

**A/N: Thanks to J3nnif3r and warmfuzzys for their reviews, and to redridder6612 for editing it for me. **


	14. Chapter 14

On Wednesday, he walked into the Medico-Legal lab with a new case. Brennan wasn't in her office, so he headed toward the platform.

Angela intercepted him on the way. He groaned to himself. 'Oh no, hasn't she given it up already? Just what do we have to do to convince Angela that there's nothing going on between us,' he wondered desperately.

To his surprise, Angela didn't start grilling or teasing him. Instead she motioned him into her office and closed the door behind them.

With a serious expression on her face, Angela opened the conversation, "Something's wrong with Bren. At first I thought it was just that we had a difficult case, but there's something else going on and I can't get her to talk to me. I've tried everything I can think of besides flat-out confronting her. I normally would have just asked, but somehow she's managed to avoid me when I've tried to be straightforward. Don't tell me you haven't noticed. You spend at least as much time with her as I do, maybe more."

Booth thought, 'I thought Bones seemed to be coping reasonably well, and she was convinced that nobody had noticed. But nothing escapes Angela. We should have known.'

Booth sighed. "Look, I'm trying to take care of it, alright? Just don't tell her you talked to me about this and keep offering her opportunities to share without pressure. Maybe she'll decide to tell you."

A look of relief crossed Angela's face. "As long as she's talking to somebody, it doesn't have to be me."

"I didn't say that," Booth tried to misdirect Angela without actually lying. "But I _am_ keeping an extra careful eye on her."

Angela winked at him. "You didn't have to," she said cheekily before turning serious. "If she wasn't talking to you about it, you'd be acting lot more worried. I know sometimes she shares things with you that she won't tell me."

At Booth's stern expression, she laughed, raised her hands in surrender, and said, "I know… I didn't hear it from you."

"Darn right you didn't, 'cause I didn't say anything," he retorted.

"Sweetie, you didn't have to," she replied.

Over the next couple of weeks, both Booth and Angela quietly watched Brennan closely. Whatever was bothering her seemed to slowly disappear and gradually things went back to normal.

One day, Brennan walked into Booth's office. When he didn't look up from his paperwork, she cleared her throat loudly to gain his attention.

"Bones, what can I do for you?" he asked.

She closed the door and plopped down in one of the chairs. "It's gone," she said happily.

"What? What's gone?" Booth asked confused.

Her smile widened. "I finally feel normal again. I still can't figure out exactly what it was that made me feel a little off, but I'm so glad to be back to my regular self that it doesn't matter."

An internal sigh of relief flowed through him. "That's great, Bones. What say I take you out tonight and we celebrate?" he invited.

"I'm kind of busy, Booth," she replied. "Besides I'm the one who should be taking you out. You were the one that had to put up with most of my being out of sorts."

"Hey, what's a few bad days between friends? I really didn't mind," said Booth. "Besides, it's just more proof that I'm a good friend," he couched his serious response in a light tone.

"What an ego!" Brennan exclaimed.

But Booth wasn't going there. "No, I'm serious Bones. The measure of a true friend is that they stick with you through thick and thin."

"I know, Booth. I know," she said sincerely, glad to have a few friends like that.

The End

AN: Thanks to everybody who read and reviewed this. :-)


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